1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to equipment useful for removal of tomatoes from tomato vines during harvesting with a commercial harvester vehicle. The invention is directed toward a crank with bearing sleeves used in conjunction with a plurality of spaced apart conveyor belts which are used to shake tomatoes from the vines.
2. Description of the Related Prior Art
Modern commercial tomato harvesters, particularly ripe tomato harvesters, are capable of moving through a tomato field either being drivable self-propelled vehicles or tractor towed vehicles, and mechanically harvesting the tomatoes by severing the vines near the ground and conveying the vines with attached tomatoes upward via a lift conveyor to a separating mechanism which removes the tomatoes from the vines. The separating mechanism widely used today is a rotary drum, with the drum having outward extending flexible tines or rakes which vibrate and knock the tomatoes from the vines as the vines are passed into and through the rotating tines. The lift conveyor deposits the tomato carrying vines onto a plurality of narrow endless rotary belts which are parallel to one another and have openings between the belts, and the tomato removal drum with tines is positioned above and at the forward end of these spaced apart belts. The tomatoes fall downward through narrow openings between the conveyor beltings carrying the vines and then onto lower generally solid conveyer belts which convey the tomatoes to containers usually located on second vehicles driven adjacent the harvester. The stripped vines are conveyed to the rear or side of the harvester and deposited back onto the ground. The plurality of narrow endless rotary belts are the conveyor system for carrying the vines through the rotary stripping drum and toward the edge of the harvester for deposit back onto the ground after the tomatoes have been removed. The narrow belt loops are in spaced relationship and parallel to one another so that the vines are carried atop the moving belts, and any remaining tomatoes which do dislodge during conveying toward the rear of the harvester fall through the spaces between the parallel rotating belts to be collected on a wide flat conveyor belt. The narrow spaced apart belts typically extend from near the front beneath the rotary stripping drum toward the rear of the harvester.
With all prior art tomato harvesters of which I am aware, a small percentage of the tomatoes still remain on the vines when the vines are deposited back on the ground. The small number of the tomatoes remaining on the vines simply go to waste, and although the percentage may only be one-half of one percent up to five percent wasted, in large scale harvesting, this quickly adds up and can equate to a significant amount of dollars worth of tomatoes.
Although several prior art harvesters provide crankshaft-like or crankshaft activated devices for vibration of belts, rods or plates, for the purpose of dislodging tomatoes from the vines during harvesting, none of the related prior art disclosures teach the structuring of my invention, and none appear to mention or solve many of the problems I encountered during the development of my invention.
One relevant prior art harvester is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,426, entitled Tomato Harvester With Improved Separation Of Tomatoes From Other Picked Up Material, which was issued to Bettencourt et al on Feb. 18, 1986. Bettencourt et al shows a series of pivotally mounted walking bars which are agitated by an elongated crankshaft. The Bettencourt patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,426, is herein incorporated by reference for both essential and nonessential material for the general structure of a tomato harvester which is moved through a field, having a harvesting sub-assembly which severs the plants and directs the plants with fruit up a conveyor to a shaker assembly. The shaker assembly agitates the vines and dislodges the fruit, which is then directed towards a collecting bin. The vines are then redeposited onto the ground.
Another relevant prior art harvester, entitled Separator For Tomato Harvester And The Like, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,666,017 and was issued to Gates et al on May 30, 1972. The Gates et al patent discloses a tomato harvester having a series of parallel rotatable narrow endless belts trained over pulleys connected to rotary powered shafts transverse to the belts and which drive the belts. The parallel belts are positioned with narrow spacings to allow dislodged tomatoes to fall through in the process of separating the tomatoes from the vines. Shaking or vibrational mechanics are applied to the Gates et al belts to dislodge the tomatoes. Primarily for the features of the plurality of closely adjacent endless separator/conveyor belts, the support shafts, pulleys, and powering belts, motors and other components for the driving of the separator belts on a tomato harvester, the Gates et al patent pertaining to a tomato harvester is herein incorporated by reference for both essential and nonessential material.
Another related prior art disclosure is Soviet Union patent 1192690 issued in 1985. This patent teaches a tomato harvester having synchronized crankshafts which actuate rake members which dislodge tomatoes from the vines.
Additional relevant prior art information pertaining to commercial tomato harvesters and structure, including shaker conveyors upon which tomato vines are carried and shaken to dislodge the fruit may be found in Farm Machinery Corporation's (FMC) service and repair manuals on Tomato Harvesters which are manufactured by FMC. FMC manufactures various models of commercial tomato harvester vehicles, with the FMC tomato harvester models 5600T and 5600TE being particularly well suited for adaption with the present invention. FMC models 5600T and 5600TE are described in detail in the 1990 FMC service manual on "Tomato Harvester". Service manuals on FMC tomato harvesters may be obtained from: FMC Corporation, Food Processing Machinery Division, Box A, Madera, Calif. 93639. The FMC service manual dated 1990 and titled "Tomato Harvester" describing harvester models 5600T and 5600TE is herein incorporated by reference for nonessential information primarily for the detailing therein of self-powered driveable tomato harvest vehicles which include rotary drums with tines as the primary tomato remover, and which further include narrow and parallel conveyor belts with spacing therebetween upon which tomato vines are carried. FMC tomato harvester models 5600T and 5600TE also include hydraulic pumping stations for powering various hydraulic motors and rams to operate powered components of the harvester.
During the development and testing of my herein disclosed invention which uses a rotating crank or crankshaft placed against spaced apart narrow rotary conveyor belts to shake the belts and to thus remove most or all of the remaining tomatoes behind the primary removal stage, I first encountered many problems which I believe I have inventively solved, and which are not believed to have been addressed by the related prior art. One problem I encountered was the speed at which the conveyor belts could be rotated relative to the rotational speed of the crankshaft while having durability in the related components. The speed and overall efficiency at which harvesting may be accomplished in commercial farming is clearly important. Another problem I encountered was with the vines winding around the crankshaft, which would require harvesting to be stopped until the vines were cleared away. Still another problem I encountered was in achieving a proper and adequate shaking or vibrational pattern which would remove tomatoes as desired, and in a structural arrangement which was highly durable, as I found that different varieties of tomatoes at different degrees of ripeness react differently dependant upon varying vibrational rates which I accomplish through variable speed control and other structuring associated with my crankshaft utilized to shake the conveyor belting.